"Flew in to NYC late last night to surprise this little girl who will be your gracious host on Saturday Night Live this evening. Her reaction of surprise and joy upon my arrival was worth more than every dollar ever spent in the history of money. I love you so much sis. Knock 'em dead tonight."

Raiders
of the Lost Ark is the pinnacle of blockbuster filmmaking because
Steven Spielberg deals in optical illusions. Editing, suggestion creates
energy. We see high angles, low angles, villain shots, hero shots,
punches in close-up, beads of sweat punched in even tighter, then — boom
— a danger-filled stunt packed in a wide frame. It's calculated and
thrilling.

There aren't car flips, bare-knuckle brawling or explosions exploding
out of explosions in the subdued hit Fifty Shades of Grey, and yet the
film's sexual encounters speak the same language as an Indiana Jones
movie. The experimental passion that erupts between Anastasia Steele
(Dakota Johnson) and bondage connoisseur Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan)
is artful and precise, building sensations out of implication rather
than sustained, gratuitous moves. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson comes from
the visual art world, where her body of work has been praised for
examining "the split between being and appearance, often placing her
human subjects – either singly or in groups – in situations where the
line between interior and external sense of self is in conflict." That's
Fifty Shades too, a meticulous orchestration of portraiture and
movement, cobbled together with Spielberg bravado.

Like Raiders, Fifty Shades is a movie where the stunts make or break the
action's magnetic quality. To believe Christian and Anastasia's
relationship is to buy Dornan and Johnson in the Red Room, ties,
floggers, and anything else in play. To execute these physically and
emotionally involved sequences, Fifty Shades recruited stunt coordinator
Melissa Stubbs, whose resume includes The Last Samurai, the X-Men
series, stunt-doubling for Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the
upcoming Terminator Genisys and over 25 years executing stunts for jobs
big and small. Speaking to Esquire from Los Angeles, Stubbs likened the
sex in Fifty Shades to a coordinated fight scene, planned and ingrained
in the actors' minds.

"It was a lot of working with Sam Taylor-Johnson and the actors, getting to a place where [Jamie Dornan] could play dominant," Stubbs said. "They
wanted it to look realistic and keep it true to the book. So my purpose
was helping the actors to get there without hurting them. My job
description can be anything to a martial arts teacher to rolling a car.
This was a completely different thing. It was about helping the actors
getting to where they needed to go."

Stubbs recalled that she and the Fifty Shades team spent two weeks
researching and developing a layout for Christian's Red Room, learning
what accessories their lead character would keep in his home and
weighing each item's visual appeal. In a mock Red Room layout, Stubbs
became her own Anastasia stand-in, engaging with various setups to see
how they would play on screen. The stuntwoman worked with a bondage tech
advisor that instructed the production on tools, devices, and ropes
used in regular practice. Stubbs and the design team toiled over the
simplest knots. "We played with them, [finding] visual ideas for Sam," she said. "If
you look at Sam's work as a visual artist and photographer, you'll see
interesting images of human art, physical art, of subjects hanging."

There's only so much that a stunt team can fake when a scene requires
two bare actors and a series of rough maneuvers. The rack where
Christian hangs Anastasia had few modifications, save for some
off-camera comforts. The duo's actual "play" couldn't fake contact.
Props had to move like real bondage toys to give Taylor-Johnson options
in the editing room. Stubbs worked with prop master Dan Sissons to
design whips that had soft leather or rabbit fur tips to avoid hurting
Johnson, or leaving a mark on her. Takes involving Dornan and Johnson
varied from calm to quite violent (a salaciousness that rarely shows its
face in the finished film).

Stubbs couldn't laud Johnson's commitment to the Red Room scenes enough. "She was completely naked and vulnerable," said Stubbs. "It's
fine if it's an intimate setting with your actor and director, but you
have an entire film crew in the room. There were shots where she was
flogged, but in the most gentle, controlled manner possible. It was a
tough couple of weeks for her."

While the glimpse of a whip may provoke audience reactions, many of
Fifty Shades provocative beats were dependent on Dornan and Johnson's
performances. Body language was as important as bodily reactions. Stubbs
talked about a scene where Jamie crops Dakota to stage combat. "If
someone gets punched, we don't actually punch someone," she said. "It's a
swing and a miss, but the use the actor's reaction sells that they were
struck." Very little of the sex in Fifty Shades was "blocked," leaving
intimate movements up the actors and their character motivations. Stubbs
said that there was pre-shoot training, but it was all in preparation
to work "freestyle," ingraining this behind-closed-doors acts into the
actors' repertoire. "My job is not how to tell Jamie how to move sexually," she said. "It's his decision and a private one."

As a stunt coordinator, Stubbs was on standby throughout the shoot, a
pair of eyes who could step in when a move wasn't working. She could
offer alternatives, descriptive explanation. "Sometimes you're a fly on
the wall and gently get them pointed on the right direction from their
character point, from a safety point," she says. Dornan and Johnson's
simulated moves had to look convincing, and, even more importantly, they
had to be repeatable. Each shot could take four hours.

Despite surface appearances, nothing in the Red Room was as painful for
Johnson as one of the film's minor, fully-clothed moments. When she
walks into Christian's office for the first time, Anastasia takes a
nasty pratfall on to the marble floor — which was completely real. "That's 100 percent Dakota and she probably did 23 takes of falling on her face to the ground." Stubbs
thought Dakota was anticipating the fall, losing the spontaneity of the
gag. The more takes she did, the more mechanical it became. So, knowing
Dakota was committed to making it work, Stubbs hid behind lens, grabbed
her foot, and assisted her fall. "It's the little things that can be the most difficult sometimes, and not making things more than they need to be," Stubbs says. "[Dakota] is a trooper. She was fully committed."

Stubbs' contributions to Fifty Shades of Grey are hard to trace. She
prides herself on it. A move that went too soft could pull a viewer out
of the movie and have them questioning the core relationship. Too hard
of a hit sends the movie into camp territory, a movie that's about
bondage as opposed to challenged by the lifestyle. Like Spielberg's
whirlwind car chases, the sex in Fifty Shades just… happens. And, with
the film killing it at the box office, it'll likely happen again. Stubbs says, if production sticks the course, cameras will roll on the Fifty Shades sequel in June.Whether
the coordinator be on board a second time is uncertain, but she
expects the on-set stunt methodology to remain the same: Work safe, work
smart, and above all else, sell the illusion.

As
we saw on the SS 15 runways, pony’s are definitely the ‘it’ style for
spring and nothing captures that more than a red carpet moment. Dakota
Johnson’s effortless ponytail was an understated compliment to her
flowing dress and features. Hairstylist Mark Townsend let’s us in on
recreating the look at home.

“Working with
Dakota has been such an incredible and inspiring experience. For the
2015 Oscars I wanted her hair to reflect her personality and style, and
the Saint Laurent gown she chose to wear was very vibrant. We decided
her hair should be off the dress, but not necessarily up, so I went for a
young, cool ponytail. She has the most amazing fringe so we kept them
down with some face framing layers to keep the style modern and
perfectly imperfect.TO STYLE:1. I started by adding a
few drops of Dove Youthful Vitality Silk Crème to her damp hair and
blow dried with a Mason Pearson brush.

2. For texture and grip,
I liberally sprayed Dove Refresh+Care Invigorating Dry Shampoo
throughout her hair, then gathered it just above the occipital bone,
securing with a tight elastic.

3. The key to dressing up a
ponytail is in the details, so I pulled a small amount of hair from the
ponytail, wrapped it around the base to hide the elastic, and secured
with bobby pins.

4. To create additional texture I sprayed Sally Hershberger Glam Waves spray in my hands and raked it through the ponytail.

5. I finished by spraying Dove Style+Care Extra Hold Hairspray to add shine and keep her hair in place all night.”

Friday, February 27, 2015

To hear most actors tell it, filming sex scenes is no turn-on. There
are big cameras, of course, and big crew members that come with them.
It’s a performance with a stranger-turned-scene-partner, for a director
who’s judging every caress and whimper. It’s the antithesis of hot,
stars assure us on late-night TV; it’s awkward and tense. Speak to the
filmmakers, though, and you get a different take.

“I personally am very excited when we shoot sex scenes,” said Sarah
Treem, a creator of the Showtime series “The Affair.” “Because I think
they can be transgressive; they can be very, very real.”

When they work, she added, “everybody actually enjoys them.”

Audiences certainly do, if the blockbuster success of “Fifty Shades of
Grey” is any measure. But they are delicate moments to capture. “We did actually save the explicit sex to the final week”
of shooting, said Seamus McGarvey, the cinematographer of “Fifty Shades
of Grey,” based on E. L. James’s S-and-M-centered novel — though
on-screen, some of the whipping is created via digital imagery.

To simulate sex, actors employ tricks: pillows between them, prosthetics
and body stockings, and push-ups to get their muscles bulging. But the
movement is often improvised. “If it’s overly rehearsed or overly
thought through, it seems like a bad soft-core porn on Cinemax,” said
Judd Apatow, the auteur of raunchy rom-coms (and a producer of “Girls”).
In the forthcoming comedy “Trainwreck,” Mr. Apatow directed the writer
and comedian Amy Schumer in her first big-screen sex scenes; she pumped
herself up by listening to Beyoncé in her trailer.

On “Fatal Attraction,” Michael Douglas and Glenn Close were loosened up
with Champagne and margaritas, said Adrian Lyne, the director of that
sexually charged classic as well as “Indecent Proposal” and
“Unfaithful.”

Naturally, not all steamy scenes are amorous. Some, like those in
Jean-Marc Vallée’s “Wild” and “Dallas Buyers Club,” are meant to be
uncomfortable, and those are among the most difficult to create.

In individual telephone conversations, these film professionals
discussed one of the weirder aspects of their jobs, the logistics of sex
on screen.

Write, rehearse and choreograph? Or just let the camera roll?

Seamus McGarvey: We did have rehearsals and to make the actors
feel comfortable initially, look at how we might photograph the sex.
Also, that suited the first few sex scenes, to have a slight awkwardness
to them; the camera would be more at a distance. In the Red Room, when
things heat up a little bit, that was less choreographed. Sometimes we
would use a remotely operated camerahead so the actors wouldn’t have an
operator leaning in.

Do you ask for nudity, and then worry about covering it up afterward?

McGarvey: We were protecting the actors. Jamie [Dornan] had a
cover over his penis. Dakota [Johnson] had kind of a patch that went
over her pubic area, and right round her whole body. We were in the
curious situation, in postproduction, of adding [pubic hair]. I wouldn’t
say it was one of the highlights of my career, but it certainly was one
of the most surreal scenarios. We did have a butt double for Dakota. I
had the pleasure of casting a nontattooed bottom — Surreal Scenario No.
2.

Sex scenes mean a small crew. But how close are the cameras and how many takes?

McGarvey: For the sex, we would always shoot with two cameras, so they
wouldn’t have to do numerous takes. I have done sex scenes before that
have more abandon, for instance, in “We Need to Talk About Kevin.” When I
did that scene with Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly, with a 5D
[camera], I was literally under the covers.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Veronica Swanson Beard: "There’s so many! Our inspiration boards are
constantly full of women who inspire us, and celebrities obviously.
We’re so thrilled when they wear them!"

Veronica Miele Beard: "It’s all these women who want to be chic all the
time and they care everyday. We’re giving girls tools for and this one
piece of effortless, layered clothing. We love people as young Dakota
Johnson, Jennifer Lopez, to 70-year-olds. Our moms wear it!"

Veronica Swanson Beard: "We love [Dakota], she’s on fire right now, and
she’s a [great] example of a demographic that would be fabulous. She has
a huge lifestyle right now, and a lot of our clothes transcend all
kinds of weather, day to evening, and very easy uniform pieces. We like
to say we give you your armor and you can slay dragons all day."

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

CAMPION: When I met you, I was really struck by how beautiful you are.
You have a curious strength and humanity, kindness, and vulnerability. I
know you must be ambitious, but there's nothing of the male-directed
machine about you. Clearly you have your opinions, but you're not at all
aggressive in your manner. Is that how things work with you on the set
with your collaborators, as a director? How do you get what you want?

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: With a movie like this, I had to build trust and make
Dakota and Jamie feel secure that they'd never be violated or put in a
position where I was going to take advantage. I had just a few weeks to
build an enormous security blanket around the three of us. Whatever we
did was a discussion and a place of love and safety. Not too far from
what we were talking about, really.

CAMPION: With Dakota, it's easy to understand, because women are so used
to being objectified sexually, but for Jamie, was that a struggle for
him at all?

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: I think Jamie was definitely a
little shy. His wife, Millie, just had a baby about four days, I think,
before we started shooting. To be in the head space of a new father,
very protective of the world, and then to step into this role of
powerful dominant—it took enormous courage for him to be able to do that
and be naked and be sexual at a time when he was feeling very
different. I think both of them struggled with the nudity and the sex.
They were both fully aware that that was what they signed on for, but
when it comes to that moment, both of them were terrified of where we
were going to go. Everyone said, "What was the chemistry like? Was it
powerful?" As you well know, when you're shooting an incredibly erotic
scene, you've got your gaffers and your grips and your lighting and your
sound. [Campionlaughs] It's hard to create that intimacy.